Plastic Bags Impact

Plastic shopping bags are so small, lightweight, and compact that it is hard to imagine they produce a significant impact on the environment. However, if one plastic grocery bag is scaled to 1 trillion bags annually consumed around the world, it makes a difference (Roach, 2003). Consider their impact on land and aquatic environment.

Land:

United States consumers go through 100 billion bags annually that requires 12 million barrels of oil (Applebome, 2007).
When discarded in landfills, it takes up to 1000 years for plastic bags to degrade. (Reusablebags.com, 2008).
When breaking down, plastic bags leak toxic chemicals into environment (Roach, 2003).

Oceans:

Marine animals and birds are the major victims of the plastic bags. They got mistaken for food and are the primarily source of entanglement causing animals' death (Casey, 2007).
Even the least traveled parts of the Pacific Ocean are littered with 3.5 million tons of trash, 80 percent of which is plastic (Gutierrez, 2008).
Zooplankton is the foundation of sea life. However, a research in the North Pacific showed that there is six times more plastic than plankton (Casey, 2007).
The highest concentration of plastic debris was found in the Mediterranean where plastic bags constituted 92.8% of all debris (Allsopp, 2008).
A Minke Whale washed up on a beach in northern France had 800 kg of plastic bags and other packaging in its stomach (Carmichael, 2006).

It is hard to imagine the modern world without plastic shopping bags. They became a notorious sign of our days: they are given at every grocery or any other kind of retailer store. Plastic bags became so ubiquitous that we don't spare a thought using them. After all, it doesn't cost us a penny, or at least it seems so.

Plastic Bag Addiction

Why are plastic bags so addictive? There are a number of reasons for that:

Plastic bags are cheap, very cheap. A standard plastic grocery bag costs about a penny to produce, according to the plastics industry, compared with 4 cents to 5 cents for a paper bag. Compostable plastic bags would cost from 8 cents to a dime (Conway, 2007).
Plastic bags are light and waterproof. These qualities make plastic bags indispensable in grocery and retail stores.
Plastic bags are very compact. In comparison to paper bags, plastic bags are at least six times more compact and nine times lighter. Because of these qualities, plastic bags are easier to transport and they occupy only 0.6% of landfills (Rubin, 2007).

Alternatives to Plastic Bags

Are there alternatives to plastic bags? What about paper bags? Unfortunately, the only good thing about paper bags is that they are produced from a renewable resource. In everything else paper bags have greater ecological impact. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), when paper bags are produced, the amount of air pollutants is 70% higher comparing to the production of plastic bags. At the same time, the release of pollutants into water is 50% higher and 85% more energy is required to recycle them (Progressive Bag Alliance, 2008).

So, is there an alternative? The answer is: Yes. Check out our Solutions section.